


The wizard's cat

by Misila



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood, Body Horror, Demons, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Magical Realism, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16108232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misila/pseuds/Misila
Summary: Haruka vanished three months ago.Nobody knows what happened. Other than Rin himself, that’s it, and he has no particular wish to speak about it.





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

 

 

Rin wakes to the quite alarming noise of dishes crashing in the sink.

His legs tangle with the bedsheets and he falls face-first on the wooden floor when he tries to get up; confusion quickly makes way for annoyance, though, and he’s growling even before arriving at the kitchen and witnessing the mess his cat has made, all on his own.

Said animal now sits on the countertop, defiantly licking at his paw as he stares right into Rin’s eyes. And he usually makes little noise, but he doesn’t need it to communicate that he feels zero remorse about breaking the wizard’s silverware for the fourth time this month— he looks almost _proud_.

“Haru,” Rin grunts, and admittedly he _is_ a little impressed by the cat’s imperviousness to his glare. The students have learnt to fear it, but Haruka only yawns, his long fangs visible over his lower lip when his mouth closes. “If you’re hungry, why didn’t you just wake me up?”

To that Haruka stands up, suddenly attentive; he reaches forward with his front legs, stretches and licks his lips, meowing when Rin walks closer to the sink to assess the damage.

“I should just give you cat food until you learn to behave.”

Haruka meows again, nuzzles against Rin’s side. His black tail curls around Rin’s wrist, and the little manipulative monster has the gall to purr as soon as Rin scratches his neck.

Rin snorts, snaps his fingers and listens to the shards of ceramic fitting themselves back together as he opens the fridge; he scrunches up his nose at the smell of raw fish.

“We’re out of mackerel,” he announces, though. Haruka’s soft steps precede his arrival at Rin’s side; he looks up and down in the fridge, sniffs around and stares at Rin again when he fails to sense the scent of mackerel. “Fuck, Haru, stop being so dramatic. I know you spend the nights hunting mice in the garden, don't be picky now.”

Visibly offended by the remark, Haruka turns around, walks out of the kitchen with his tail high behind him, in a dignified manner that doesn’t really suit an animal that was begging for food barely a minute ago.

With a deep sigh, Rin switches the hob on and searches for a pan to cook a hake fillet. Meanwhile he prepares coffee and toast for himself, because the day has started earlier than he had planned and it will be a long one.

He goes over his mental list of tasks for today— two master classes, then continuing his research at the University’s library until lunch; he promised his mother and sister he'd eat with them. And in the afternoon he has to see Makoto so that they catch up with each other’s advances; perhaps, if they finish soon enough, he’ll have the time to take Haruka to the beach for a walk.

A quite busy day, and that’s not counting the night.

After making breakfast Rin finds Haruka on the sofa, waiting for his fish; he gives no sign of interest until Rin sets the dish on the floor, but then he slides across the living room, quick and stealthy, and nearly devours his breakfast.

“Careful with the bone,” Rin whispers, but Haruka doesn’t even look up.

Uneasiness tightens its iron fist around the wizard’s heart.

 

 

 

Matsuoka Rin, the youngest wizard invited to give a master class at the University in History, is for some reason he doesn’t understand considered scary.

Oh, scratch that— he knows perfectly well.

Besides sometimes teaching newbie wizards about his line of work, he is one of the best demon hunters in Japan, sharing the record of successful cases with Nanase Haruka, in spite of their youth.

But Haruka can’t stand next to him today.

Haruka vanished three months ago. Nobody knows what happened –other than Rin himself, that’s it; and he has no particular wish to speak about it–; Rin was found five kilometres northwest from where they were supposed to ambush the demon, wandering across the forest and paying no mind to the storm soaking him to the bone. The emergency services interpreted his incessant _Haru’s gone, Haru’s gone_ the way most people would; therefore, Nanase Haruka was presumed dead, even though no trace of him was found.

Rin doesn't blame them. It's the common procedure, when the cause of death is assumed to be a demon.

Rin wants to think he didn’t take it too badly. He only locked himself up in his room for four days, refused to let even Sousuke drag him out to force some food into his system— it was only when a black, scrawny cat jumped through the window that the wizard remembered he was hungry and tired and dirty, and everything he had been too consumed by grief to notice earlier.

The epiphany came a couple of days later, after attentively watching the behaviour of the pet that had snapped him out of his misery.

In hindsight, it wasn’t as if Haruka didn’t try. But what made Rin realise wasn’t the cat’s obsession with their old album or the messy attempt at a kanji he scratched on the back of the sofa, which Rin mistook for a coincidence before fixing it with a snap of his fingers.

No.

It was, well.

No cat will ever be as much of an asshole as Haruka is.

 

 

 

No animals are allowed in the library, but Rei always makes an exception for Rin— the only condition is Haruka stays quiet and hidden from view, so Rin carries the cat in a bag and opens it upon sitting down, prays Haruka doesn’t get too antsy during the hours the wizard has to spend reading on demon curses.

Rin has read around thirty books on the matter throughout the latest months, but the information necessary for his particular case is scarce and often vague. His leg bounces anxiously as his eyes slide across the page, filtering out all the irrelevant data; an odd sort of relief washes over him when Haruka escapes the bag and sits on his lap, peeking above the table.

Rin is grateful he often wears dark clothes, but he still hears a couple of students gasp at the blue eyes curiously glancing at all the open books.

“I know, I’m tired of this too,” Rin mutters, so quietly it’s barely audible, even in the silent library. Haruka looks up, gaze wide and worried even as Rin pets him. “We’ll find it, you’ll see.”

Haruka raises his paw, sets it on Rin’s chest— right over his heart.

The wizard smiles.

“Yeah. I promise.”

 

 

 

There are two reasons Rin hasn’t told many people that his boyfriend isn’t actually dead, just a bit cursed. The first one is he has no desire to be locked up in an asylum, thank you very much. And _this cat is as bitchy as Haru_ isn’t really a valid explanation for anyone who doesn’t know Haruka well. Strangers tend to mistake Haruka's judging silences as shyness or just plain introversion.

The second and most important one is the demon who cursed Haruka is still roaming free. And Rin is no coward and would actually love to tear apart the monster who made his entire life collapse for four whole days, but the demon is a formidable opponent and Rin isn’t about to draw its attention to Haruka when his boyfriend is in a state in which the worst he can do is scratching a little.

So Rin holds Haruka on his lap as he eats, grateful for the cat’s nuzzles against his stomach every time his mother or sister subtly bring the topic up, wonders how well he’s playing the grieving boyfriend role— wonders what they think about him coping by naming the stray cat that snuck into his house like his dead boyfriend and taking him everywhere he goes.

Hey, at least he's not starving himself anymore.

Still, Rin is kind of glad his relationship with Haruka’s parents is non-existent, these days; he doesn't really need to know their opinion on the matter. They would most likely disapprove, the way they dislike everything he does ever since Haruka had the idea of pursuing the same career as him. And Rin knows his boyfriend is pretty much alive in his lap, but the last words his mother in law hissed at him still sting with some truth— nothing of this would have happened had Haruka become an artist instead, the way everyone expected from him.

 

 

 

Makoto is one of the few people who _knows_.

Rin didn’t mean to tell him at first; it was Haruka who jumped out of his arms when he saw his best friend at the end of the street, ran along the pavement and rubbed against Makoto’s legs without any warning. Makoto being Makoto scooped the cat up to cuddle him, but by the time Rin made it to him he was staring into Haruka’s eyes, understanding even before Rin explained the full story.

Other than Rin, he’s the only person Haruka ever approaches— he tolerates being petted by nearly everyone, Kisumi being the most remarkable exception; but he rarely displays affection umprompted.

“I’ve been looking into European potions,” Makoto explains that afternoon. “There is a lot about witches and black cats and the devil, so things aren’t as clear as I’d like; but most sources indicate that demon’s blood would most likely be a requirement.”

Rin grunts; in spite of his anger and thirst for revenge, he’s not _that_  eager to face that monster again.

But then he glances at Haruka, hears his purring as Makoto absent-mindedly scratches his belly; he would have to be blind to not notice Haruka is progressively embracing his instincts, becoming more of a cat and less of the man Rin went crazy with grief when he thought he had lost.

“I doubt I’ll get that case assigned again even if I ask,” he eventually admits, pulling at his hair. “I’m traumatised and grieving my boyfriend’s death, remember?”

Makoto hums, pensive. “Can’t you just… look into the reports?”

“You mean taking a peek without permission?” Rin raises an eyebrow; for his part, Haruka opens his eyes and glares at Makoto to keep scratching his belly. “Hm, reports are well protected… But some colleagues owe me favours—…” Rin halts when the black cat leaves Makoto’s side, offended his best friend stopped pampering him. “Haru, you’re too spoiled.”

Haruka sits down next to his knee, stares at Rin with enough intensity to remind him that his boyfriend is still in there.

“ _Okay_ ,” Rin gives up, “you win this time.”

 

 

 

There is no time left to spend at the beach, but Rin and Haruka walk up along the riverbank as they head home. Haruka plays with the water, even though he only sinks his paws a little and never reaches too deep; he ends up enjoying more chasing after insects, leaping to catch them and sometimes stare at Rin with both pride and defiance as he munches on them.

Rin can’t help but dread how comfortable Haruka seems in this form lately. The first days, he recalls, he didn’t even move like a cat; he reminded Rin of a baby that has yet to get the hang of his own body, even though he was big enough to not be mistaken for a kitten. But now he hunts animals and is picky with affection to a point he had never been before the night Rin thought he died.

He swallows down when Haruka disappears further ahead, even though he knows their house is close enough and there aren’t cars that may be a danger for his boyfriend. It’s just that it happens right when the last rays of sun extinguish and the world fades around him for a couple of minutes, until the lampposts remember their function and shed light on what is left of the path.

A smile quirks up his lips when he opens the door and steps inside the moonlit hall, when steps heavier than a cat’s make the floor creak in the kitchen and he finds a very human silhouette crouched in front of the fridge, pretty much sacking it.

“You better have washed your hands.”

Haruka glances up; his azure eyes glow brighter in the dark kitchen, nearly fluorescent. And yet, much like when he's a cat, there is no trace of remorse in his gaze.

“I spend the day cleaning them.”

“Licking,” Rin points out, leaning on the doorframe, “with the same tongue you taste the bugs you eat.”

Haruka narrows his eyes. “I don’t hear you complaining when my tongue is in your—”

“…and you could at least get dressed,” Rin interrupts him, and he hasn’t bothered to switch the light on but he knows Haruka can see his blush even without his feline night vision.

Haruka rises to his feet, licking at his fingers. He steps towards Rin, and it’s not until he’s barely half a metre away that Rin realises the pineapple juice what is running down his palm.

“Full moon,” Haruka mutters, as if Rin hadn't spent the past twenty-seven days longing for tonight.

He still nods, drinks the distance between them to meet Haruka’s lips in the middle.

The first time was devastating— after a night tangled in each other’s arms, Rin awoke to a small fluffy lump sleeping on his stomach, went from crying with laughter to cry with frustration on a cat that didn’t know how to meow to make the wizard’s powerlessness more bearable.

But it’s the third full moon since then. Rin already knows how it goes.

“You get…” he whispers against Haruka’s mouth, losing his balance for a second but not really minding it when his boyfriend pushes him up against the doorframe, when they dance together towards the stairs. “You get less human…” comes out, and it’s enough for Haruka to halt.

He glances down, lips set in a tight pout.

“…Sorry.”

Rin shakes his head, presses a quick peck to Haruka’s nose. “No. I mean. Can I help?”

Haruka looks up. His hands are on Rin’s hips, grabbing tight enough to leave a mark; and Rin doesn’t mind, would give his soul for the bruise to stay there until the next full moon so that he knows it wasn’t a dream.

“You,” Haruka breathes out, “you remind me…”

He swallows, leans his head on Rin’s shoulder. Rin’s arms, loose around his naked waist, bring him close to muffle the shivers running down his spine, fingers drawing circles on his back to kill a cold that doesn’t come from the outside.

“Haru?” The call echoes in the silent house.

Haruka shakes his head.

“In the forest, all I remembered was you,” he confesses, small and scared and knocking the air out of Rin's lungs. “I didn’t even know how to walk on four legs, but I knew I had to come back to you.” Rin grinds his teeth together— that night is without a doubt the worst of his life, and yet he didn’t even think that Haruka found himself so alone he couldn’t even rely on his own body. “Maybe I’m less human now…

“But as long as you’re here, I’ll remember.”

Haruka draws back, lips wet with saliva and pineapple juice; he offers a small smile and Rin feels the sudden urge to kiss it wider, until they both forget how quick tonight will be.

“Do you remember I love you?” he asks, but his lips crash against Haruka’s without waiting for an answer.

And they do again, and again, and a fourth time because they have to make up for a whole month worth of just belly rubs and cuddles and Haruka is too damn beautiful for just one kiss anyway.

“I do,” Haruka eventually replies, unashamed to press himself up against Rin even though he has no clothes to conceal his desire with— or for that exact reason, most likely. “Every day of the month.”

They breathe against each other every step of the staircase, break away with a gasp after Haruka pulls Rin down on the mattress with him and their foreheads collide. His dexterous hands tug at Rin’s shirt, urging him to hurry.

“Haru,” Rin mutters, huffing out laughter at the fingers unbuttoning his clothes for him. Haruka halts, searches his eyes with his gaze. “One more month,” he swears, “one at most, and you’ll have enough demon blood to bathe in it after you’re back for good.”

 

 _Because you came back when I thought you wouldn’t_ ,

 

Rin grunts against Haruka’s lips, fingers sinking like claws in his boyfriend’s shoulders when a hand slips under the elastic of his boxers.

 

 _I will make sure you aren’t taken away again_.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gestures around* this was inspired by the latest official art... In some... way... I mean there is a cat... Okay, I give up. I don't even know, it's two a.m. and all I know is I liked writing this. Even though originally Haruka was supposed to be a cat because Rin messed up a spell.
> 
> (I have no explanation, really. I just hoped you liked it.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the tags!! There's nothing worrying, only this chapter isn't as centered on RH as the first one. Just so you know and don't get disappointed or anything.
> 
> Also don't expect foreshadowing or super deep hints in this fic as a whole, this is as much of a gardener writer as I can get and while I know where this is headed I'm not really focusing on those things.

 

 

 

 

Haruka awakens smaller than he was when he dozed off, curled up against Rin’s side.

The first time he tore the sheets apart in frustration, but how he only huffs, inches closer to Rin and leans his head on his boyfriend’s chest, listening to his deep breathing and his slower pulse as the Sun rises higher, rays timidly piercing through the curtains to announce something Haruka already knows.

The full moon is over.

Haruka’s eyelids grow heavy again, and it’s not due to sleepiness.

He hates the washed-out colours around him. He loathes the dull shades of yellow that are the only ones rivalling blue now, can’t stand the apathy a world he doesn’t recognise tries to drown him in.

He hates not seeing red.

Not even Rin’s warmth can chase his restlessness away— he doesn’t even know he’ll be but a pale shadow for the next twenty-seven days, that looking at him pains Haruka and glancing away scares him nearly as much as his failed attempts at recalling how Rin really looks like when the moon is growing in the sky do.

Twenty-seven days.

Haruka squeezes his eyelids tighter, wishing he could turn his thoughts off too.

 _Twenty-seven days_.

It is only when the air vibrates strangely as unintelligible babbling falls from Rin’s lips that Haruka gives up. His eyes pry open just in time to see Rin’s uneasiness grow when his palm falls on an empty mattress.

 “…Haru? Haru—” Haruka leaps forward, paws pressing on the back of Rin’s hand; Rin swallows his following words as he, too, is brought back to wakefulness with the delicacy of a panicking elephant. “Ah.”

Haruka offers the quietest _meow_ as an apology, avoiding Rin’s narrowed eyes.

Rin turns his palm upwards, pulls Haruka close as he rolls to his side. He says nothing, but it would be impossible to miss the forcibly slow heaving of his chest, the accelerated heartbeat no amount of discipline can conceal.

Haruka meows again, this time hesitant; and Rin’s free hand falls on his head, big enough to cover his eyes.

“Give me five minutes,” he mutters. Haruka nuzzles his palm. “…Today I’m back to work, after all.”

 

 

 

Rin has been on leave since he thought Haruka had died; and, even though it took him around a week to realise his new pet wasn’t the odd coincidence Fate had sent upon him to make up for the loss of his boyfriend, he didn’t go back immediately.

He technically has been back for nearly a month, but he was relegated to do paperwork until, in Mikoshiba’s words (like Haruka had to hear him whine about for three days), he cleared his mind.

“My mind is perfectly clear!” he complains again before taking a sip of his coffee, and Haruka starts taking bigger bits of salmon, hoping to finish it soon and run away from Rin’s indignation quickly. “Has been for weeks! You’re not even dead!”

Haruka doesn’t raise his head. Hopefully the caffeine has yes to kick in and Rin is still too asleep to keep on ranting.

If he has to be sincere, though, Haruka is glad Rin has spent these months in a more relaxed environment. In spite of his complaints, Rin doesn’t take having to pretend Haruka is dead as well as he wants their friends to think, and even though he is way calmer than at the beginning of this madness he’s still tense and hardly ever lets Haruka out of his sight when they go out.

Haruka both understands Rin’s constant worry and thinks it’s annoying, and he also doesn’t really mind accompanying him because life becomes ten times more boring when you lack prehensile thumbs.

He can’t now, though.

Besides turning him into a cat, the demon who cursed Haruka locked magic so deep within him that he cannot cast spells anymore, not even in the full moon. Both Rin and Makoto are convinced he will regain that skill when his human body is back for good, but uneasiness clings to Haruka’s spine tighter with every failed attempt; it’s hard to breathe when something that flowed through his veins as naturally as his own blood just isn’t there anymore.

If he accompanied Rin to hunt demons in this state, he’d be but a hindrance.

“I’ll be back around sunset,” Rin informs after gathering his things. Haruka follows him to the entrance, sits on the edge of the wooden floor and watches him put his shoes on; he rescues the red of his eyes and the darker maroon of his hair from his memory, now that it’s recent. “Take care, okay?”

 _You too_.

Haruka purrs against the hand scratching his neck, stays very still as Rin walks out and closes the door. His tail circles his legs, curls around his front paw.

He has no idea what to do now.

 

 

 

Throughout the latest weeks Haruka has got noticeably better at this whole being a cat business. The noises he is now able to hear barely startle him anymore, and his skills to identify different scents he didn’t know existed only three months prior are quite decent. And he’s particularly proud of getting the hang of his retractile claws and learning how to leap on practically everywhere, from Rin’s lap to the countertop.

Regardless of how often Rin teases him for it, hunting mice and other animals is good practice; it keeps Haruka busy and entertained, even though he tries not to get too caught up with it— Rin is right, after all; Haruka’s mind might be drifting away a bit every month he’s refused a fitting vessel for it.

Haruka walks around the house three times before deciding there is nothing interesting to do: there are no mice left in the building and the bugs he finds are too small to be entertaining. He walks in the bathroom twice, stares at the bathtub for a few minutes each time before remembering he can’t turn on the tap and cursing his useless thumbs and his stupid lack of strength.

He swishes his tail when he makes it back to the bedroom, restlessness growing by the minute.

There’s no way he’s staying like this all day.

Ever since Haruka came back through it, Rin leaves the window open when it’s not too cold outside; Haruka jumps to the windowsill from the bed, then propels himself forward to reach the thick branch that grows so close to the house they have to trim it every year.

Once there, descending isn’t too hard; afterwards Haruka slips between the bars of the gate outside the garden, but instead of heading for the riverbank he takes the opposite direction, towards the road.

His most instinctive destination should be Makoto, because he’s always up for spending an entire morning pampering a cat; but, much like Rin, his best friend is busy, so Haruka heads down the street, making sure to be at a prudent distance from the road.

He isn’t sure where he should head; other than Makoto, only Sousuke knows Haruka is not Rin’s pet, and their relationship has been a bit tense since Haruka was presumed dead.

(As tense as a cordial friendship with a cat can be, that’s it.)

Haruka wanders across the small town without a particular destination in mind. He doubts he’ll make it far, anyway; he’s awfully slow now, and just walking past a single block takes him five minutes. Perhaps that has something to do with how every noise, every smell, catches his attention. The odd colours around him make everything new, unknown, and he stops frequently to make sure he knows where he is.

He stops after only two streets, though, startled by a familiar smell. Among the smoke from the cars, the scents of other animals and the butts of cigarettes— but the memory it evokes is one from even before being cursed.

Intrigued, Haruka sniffs at the air, backtracks to turn towards a smaller street, following that particular scent. It’s not unpleasant, but he’s sure he hasn’t smelt it for _months_ — even though perhaps the last time he noticed it didn’t make it to his awareness.

He walks along the pavement, following the trace; his pace quickens as the smell grows more intense, curiosity shaping into eagerness.

What makes him stop isn’t seeing the owner of that scent, but a grunt that freezes him in his tracks. Haruka raises his gaze up loose trousers that smell like pizza and a creased shirt, stops at a stubble and grey eyes shining under dirty, dark hair.

“Come on, Ryuuji,” and Haruka notices then a man about Azuma’s age in front of him, glowing and radiating a too sweet smell of perfume. He looks as if he had stolen all the liveliness from Haruka’s mentor to wear it himself.

Well, perhaps _mentor_ isn’t the right term now.

Not that Haruka particularly cares about technicalities.

“I told you I wasn’t going out,” Azuma mutters; Haruka sits down, partly hidden behind a tree. “And your perfume stinks—… why did you come?”

“Just in case!” Mikhail’s smile is nearly violent in contrast with Azuma’s scruffy appearance, but he doesn’t seem to sense it. “And you’re already out, so what’s the problem?” Grey eyes narrow to a glare. “I’ll treat you, alright?”

Neither man pays any mind to the cat staring at them as they walk past it, and Haruka’s tail flaps, uneasy, at the conversation the light breeze brings to his ears.

“…locked up forever.”

“I’m not locked up. I don’t like spending the day outside, is all. You should try it; you aren’t a teenager anymore…”

“So you’re just sitting in your living room and waiting for your death? That’s sad even for you, Ryuuji.”

There is a short silence.

“Where are we going?”

Haruka automatically stands up, ready to follow them without really deciding it.

“Ah, a friend opened a restaurant specialised in fish last month…”

“…They better not have mackerel.”

“If you don’t like, you don’t have to—”

“Pick somewhere else or I’m going home.”

Haruka halts, sits back down.

His claws sink in the cracks splitting up the pavement.

 

 

  

It takes Haruka a while to start wandering again, enough for Azuma’s scent to diffuse to the faintest tug at his memory, intertwined with the floral fragrance in Mikhail’s wake. Haruka heads for the opposite direction, for the first time wondering if Rin’s decision to not tell anyone is the wisest one after all.

It’s not as if Haruka thinks so little of himself it never crossed his mind his death would have consequences for people around him, but he never quite stopped to consider most people out of his admittedly small circle of friends.

But he’ll be back soon.

Rin promised.

Haruka supposes it’s good Azuma has Mikhail, annoying as the man assures he finds the foreigner. Mikhail reminds Haruka of Rin, if Rin used slang from a century ago and had an insane obsession for muscles other than his own; he’s chirpy and loud and admittedly the only one completely impervious to that grey glare.

The Sun is already high when another smell catches Haruka’s attention. This time, though, it’s nowhere as pleasant as his mentor’s, yet, much like that one, it feels like something Haruka should identify.

And Haruka is torn between disgust and curiosity, but having a goal in mind is more entertaining than wandering around and mull over how his supposed death affects people he didn’t really thought it would.

His investigation takes him to a narrower path, one without cars, between two buildings so tall sunlight barely reaches the ground. The few trees lined along its sides are thin and pale, moss progressively graining ground against the frail grass.

Haruka looks around, ears sharp and eyes wide even though the stink nearly makes him gag. It comes from behind a precarious pile of furniture at the end of the alley, but he’s too close to turn around and leave now. He does slow down his pace, though, claws dragging over the pavement as he walks around the pile.

The creature there looks like a child’s drawing of what coagulated blood is supposed to look like— and in Haruka’s eyes that shade is darkened to an undefined shade of grey; but the teeth protruding from its impossible limbs and the eyes dispersed across its body, looking in seven different directions, are impossible to miss.

It’s not the first time Haruka faces that particular breed of demon, and they aren’t usually dangerous; but the world can be a terrifying place when you’re one tenth of your usual size.

The cat jumps back, fright cutting through shock when the demon’s teeth clamp down where Haruka’s head was half a second ago; the creature’s limbs stretch out to catch him and he turns around and runs as fast as he can on these legs. He doesn’t fool himself into thinking he stands a chance like this— without magic, without even a weapon; the claws scraping the pavement in his rush may as well be but toy knives against the demon.

Two feet set themselves at the entrance of the alley, legs projecting shadows that blend in with the one cast by the adjacent building. Haruka has no time to look up; he decides quickly to slip between them, but before he reaches the stranger a thud mixes with a noise like that of an obstructed hose, both sounds drowned out by a grunt he can’t say he doesn’t recognise.

“I knew there was something odd in the air.” Stopping in his tracks, Haruka looks up, eyes wide at Azuma’s disgruntled face— then glances back, where pale blood keeps spurting around the knife piercing through the demon, a cream-coloured puddle growing on the ground. “Mikhail, do something useful and call the cleansers.”

A familiar flowery scent precedes Mikhail’s arrival; he stops next to Azuma, scrunching up his nose at the sight.

“Why me? You killed it.”

“I’m retired,” Azuma grumbles, annoyed by having to explain the obvious, “I’ll be in trouble if someone finds out I still carry poisoned knives around…” But he trails off, and Haruka understands, before glancing back at him, the reason.

He manages to clench his mouth shut as his mentor crouches down, and suddenly it’s like he’s being thrown in a too big world in the middle of a storm all over again— it only takes a second for the latest months to vanish from his memory, and Haruka has no idea how cats are supposed to behave.

“A cat made it come out?” Haruka flinches a little when Azuma’s hand falls on him, noticing only when he closes his eyes that he’s shaking.

Out of concern and shame, because the demon’s smell is terribly obvious now and his mentor is no fool and it will only take a single mistake for the lie he and Rin agreed to build around Haruka’s current state to come tumbling down before Azuma’s observant eyes.

By some miracle, the retired hunter mistakes it for fear.

“Alright,” he comments, and without a warning he picks Haruka up in his arms, standing up. “You call the cleansers and I’ll bathe the cat; it’s got blood stains and they can be toxic…”

Mikhail is already fumbling with his phone, but he pouts when he looks up.

“That’s not fair!” But Mikhail frowns the second he stares at Haruka. “This cat…” Scratching Azuma to escape is out of the question, but Haruka can’t help it when his claws sink through the creased sleeves. “Isn’t it Rin-kun’s?”

“Rin— Matsuoka?” Azuma echoes, and Haruka wishes to make himself a bit smaller when he feels that grey stare back on him. “Hm, then I’ll give it back later. Bye, Mikhail.”

 

 

 

Azuma’s flat is a mess, but Haruka doesn’t dare to explore it too much even after he’s clean and dry, while his mentor takes a shower himself. The smell of pizza is so strong even humans could perceive it, boxes piled up in the kitchen and crumbs and sliced olives scattered across the floor.

Haruka only looks around enough to devise a way to get out in case Azuma doesn’t actually plan to take him home, goes still again when the man walks out of the bathroom and puts clean clothes on. Upon stepping in the living room, grey eyes fix on the cat that sits like a statue next to the sofa, narrowing in something Haruka can’t discern.

“He really got himself a cat to replace Nanase, huh.”

The meow Haruka lets out is nearly a whine, but he’s heard the same sentence too many times to not be annoyed by it. He’s alive, damn it.

And even if that demon had taken his life that night, Haruka would hate for Rin to be left completely alone in their too big house.

“Don’t give me that look,” Azuma scolds, inexplicably offended, “Replacing a person with a cat is one of the things I agree should be frowned upon.” He heads for the pile of empty pizza boxes. “No matter how much…”

But he trails off, grey eyes fixed on the boxes as if they contained the answer to every mystery in the universe.

“…How much that cat… resembles…”

Haruka figures now would be a good moment to climb to the window and escape, but Azuma is in his way— and he also supposes running away would only confirm his mentor’s suspicions.

So he stays still, frozen, as Azuma looks back at him and confirms his suspicions anyway.

“Nanase?”

Haruka jolts up as Azuma walks towards him, ignoring the mess in the kitchen as the pile of pizza boxes tumbles down in his wake.

“I knew there were weird things,” Azuma mutters, and Haruka takes a cautious step back. “No corpse, no blood, not a single trace… Demons aren’t that clean, am I right?”

Slowly, after what feels like an eternity, Haruka nods.

Azuma frowns, perhaps unsure whether he understood the gesture right or he’s crazy for talking to a cat, so Haruka nods again, this time impatient.

“Of course, you couldn’t be that easy to kill… Damn kid.” Azuma chuckles, shaking his head. “I trained you, after all.”

He stays still when Azuma reaches out to pet him, tries not to think too much about Rin’s predictable fit when he finds out there’s yet one more person who knows their secret.

If there’s someone completely capable of keeping quiet, it’s Haruka’s mentor.

 

 

 

It’s night-time by the time Azuma takes Haruka home.

Despite the man’s grumbling at having to rush, Haruka nearly runs a couple of metres ahead, fully aware he’s late— and as soon as he spots the open gate of their garden he knows he messed up. He trots inside the building, follows the sound of Rin’s steps until he reaches the bathroom.

“Haru? Haru, where—… Where were you?!” Haruka stops at Rin’s feet, meows as his boyfriend picks him up. “I was worried, you idiot.”

Haruka rubs his forehead against Rin’s shoulder, head nestled in the crook of his neck. He can’t apologise with words, so he lets Rin pamper him as they head back to close the door he left open, meows when he sees Azuma waiting at the entrance.

“A-Azuma-san,” Rin stutters, a way less graceful reaction. “Why are you here?”

“I found your cat on the street,” the man explains, hands in his pockets. “He pissed off a minor demon…” Haruka is very careful to not look at Rin when he feels his gaze burning him, focuses on sniffing at the air. Even though Azuma took a shower, he still smells like pizza. And Rin reeks of demons and sweat. “Mikhail told me he’s yours, so I brought him here.”

Haruka carefully glances at his boyfriend.

“Ah… Thank you.” Rin swallows down. “Really.”

Azuma narrows his eyes.

“Matsuoka, I’m not stupid,” he grunts, exasperated. “I don’t know what you’re planning or even if your cat agrees, but Nanase has been missing for three months.” Haruka follows the tense lines down Rin’s neck as the hunter clenches his jaw, but it’s not enough to not hear Azuma’s follow-up. “You’re not the only one who misses him.”

“I know that,” Rin replies, hugging Haruka closer. “But if everyone knew, demons would too. And Haru’s pretty good at pissing demons off, as you probably know.”

Visibly exasperated by Rin’s defensiveness, Azuma shakes his head.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, kid.” He looks at Haruka for the briefest second. “I’m just saying you should fix this before everyone gets used to the situation.” A sigh leaves his lips. “And if you need a hand, I’ll be more than glad to help.”

A tense silence stretches for seconds, for minutes, as the sky grows darker and the lampposts light up outside. Rin and Azuma stare at each other, and Haruka’s gaze hops from one to the other until he taps on Rin’s forearm, meows quietly at his boyfriend’s inquisitive look.

“…Thank you,” Rin eventually replies, not glancing up.

 

 

 

The worst part of being a cat, Haruka muses, is he can’t talk back to Rin. He can nod and shake his head and meow and hiss, but none of those tactics is enough to stop his boyfriend when he starts rambling.

“…nothing better to do than provoking demons? And now Azuma knows!” Haruka lies on his back on the bed, head hanging from the edge; he watches, rather bored, as Rin changes into the old clothes he sleeps in. “Good thing the guy is about as social as you; otherwise we’d be in big trouble…”

Haruka meows quietly. Rin glances at him, drops himself on the mattress with a sigh.

After a thorough shower, Rin smells of shampoo and clean clothes; Haruka climbs to his chest, resists the urge to look away from his face upon noticing the dreaded lack of red once again.

“And I thought _my_ day had been the intense one.” Haruka blinks. “Nothing dangerous, just a lot of them… They’re like a plague, I swear.” Rin blows on Haruka’s ears, giggles as the cat tries to cover them with his paws. “But the interesting part is I found out your demon friend is suspected to be behind a couple of murders only ten kilometres from here.”

Haruka looks up, his annoyance at Rin’s teasing forgotten.

“Whatever we have to do, we’ll probably need that demon; and we should catch it alive, just in case…” Haruka tilts his head, tail flapping from side to side. “Either this goes well or Mikoshiba kicks me out for disobedience, but we need to find the demon before someone else kills it.”

A smirk quirks up Rin’s lips; and for a second it doesn’t matter that Haruka can’t properly see him. He recognises that expression, the steady pulse beneath his paws and the vibrations of Rin’s voice.

“We can even invite Azuma.”

Haruka closes his eyes, content with Rin’s petting, with having a concrete goal to aim for after three months.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *quietly* Ryuuji (and Mikhail) is one of the few things I sincerely enjoyed about season 3 so um. Here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who may need it, mind the tags! There's nothing too graphic though, but they're there for a reason.

 

 

 

 

Rin is about to fall asleep when his phone rings.

He nearly falls off the sofa, eyes opening wide as he searches the device between the cushions. How the cat curled up on his chest doesn’t even stir, not even when Rin half-huffs, half-grunts an inarticulate greeting, is a mystery; but Rin tries his best not to disturb him once he finds himself awake enough to care.

“H-hello,” Aiichiro replies, voice unsteady against the low murmur of the TV still on.

“…Ai.” Rin snaps his fingers to switch channels until he finds a white square in a corner of the screen; he squints at the _2.52_ written inside. “What do you want?”

“I know it’s late.” Aiichiro audibly swallows. “But I just sent the files you were interested in…”

Immediately Rin sits up, regrets it when Haruka’s claws dig through his t-shirt in an attempt to not roll down to his lap; Haruka shies away from his apologetic caress, glares at Rin through the darkness flooding the living room.

“You got them?” Rin doesn’t mind Haruka’s annoyance at such an abrupt awakening, all sleepiness gone.

“Yeah, just now…”

“Thank you,” Rin replies, trying to pet Haruka again and getting an annoyed hiss as a response. “But you should sleep; it’s three in the morning.”

He expects nervous laughter and his colleague to stutter some half-hearted version of _it’s not really an inconvenience_ , because Aiichiro is the closest to a bipedal golden retriever Rin can think of— and perhaps he took advantage of that adoration to get access to files Mikoshiba expressly forbade him from seeing, but hey, all’s fair in love and war.

Instead, a long silence precedes what perhaps is the most serious Rin has ever heard Aiichiro since he gave his condolences over Haruka’s death.

“Read it as soon as you can, please.”

Rin frowns. “Why?”

“You… You want it alive, right?” Aiichiro mutters— he lowers his voice, as if ashamed of even voicing such a thought. “That’s why you asked me for those files, because you want to avenge Nanase—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rin bites on his lower lip, and his third attempt at reaching for Haruka rewards him with stillness and a reluctant _meow_. Having to pretend his boyfriend is dead is exhausting.

“The documents include information about the latest sighting, which was only yesterday…” Haruka’s ears perk up, undoubtedly listening to Aiichiro too. “From what I know, Momo’s squad will go tomorrow.”

“Momo?” Rin raises an eyebrow. “Is Mikoshiba really sending his own brother there?”

“Momo is more than capable,” Aiichiro argues, offended. “You may not agree with his ways, but—…”

“Alright, alright.” Rin squeezes his brain in search of a way to finish this conversation before Aiichiro starts a passionate discourse on Momotarou’s strengths, which in his opinion should include being less destructive than demons themselves. “Thank you, Ai.”

Haruka doesn’t move as Rin switches the light on, much less when he’s pushed off Rin’s lap and he heads out of the room; it’s only when Rin is putting proper clothes on that he hears the cat’s soft steps walking in the bedroom.

“Night shift,” Rin announces.

 

 

 

Upon reading the files Aiichiro sent and informing Haruka about the gist of it, Rin makes a lot of calls— to Makoto, to Sousuke; he even leaves a message on his sister’s voicemail to tell her that he will probably miss their date to buy a gift for their mother’s birthday in the morning.

Haruka watches him as they get on their car, clinging to the passenger seat to not fall off at Rin’s unusually rough driving; he forgets about complaining, though, when they stop and the door opens to reveal a familiar face.

“To the backseat,” Azuma grunts.

Haruka doesn’t move. He stares up at his mentor’s grey eyes; this is _his_ seat.

But the silence stretches uncomfortably under the cloudy night, and Haruka’s whiskers twitch at the smell of upcoming rain; neither of them is about to back down, and it’s only Rin’s exasperated sigh what reminds Haruka why they’re on an unplanned trip to the forest at half-past three in the morning.

Narrowing his eyes, Haruka leaps to Rin’s lap as his mentor makes himself comfortable in the passenger’s seat, then jumps on Azuma’s thighs as soon as the man sets a bag between his legs.

“According to traffic regulations cats should travel in a carrier,” Rin muses as they speed up again, smirking in response to Haruka’s glare.

Soon, though, his attention strays back to Azuma. The man absent-mindedly pets him, his free hand typing what Haruka assumes is a text.

“Backup,” he answers to the question Haruka actually wanted to ask. “And I’m warning Mikhail too… If that demon is powerful enough to turn you into that, Matsuoka will need help.”

“We need it alive,” Rin informs the man— or himself; Haruka doesn’t know. “Makoto found a spell that involves the demon willingly giving us its blood.”

Azuma arches an eyebrow, putting his phone down. “Willingly?” Rin’s hands grab the wheel tighter when he nods. “Any ideas on how to get it?”

Rin runs a hand through his hair; Haruka is glad it’s dark once they get out of Iwatobi, for he doesn’t have to see that sad imitation of red.

“I don’t think it will give us its blood by just being nice…” He leans his head back against the seat. “I can make a deal with it, though.”

The smallest noise leaves Haruka’s mouth, Azuma’s fingers curling against his fur; the certainty that his mentor can feel his heartbeat growing louder tastes bitter in the back of Haruka’s throat.

“I hope you know what happens when you break a deal with a demon.”

Rin narrows his eyes, lips pressed into a thin line. “There’s always a way around them, right? Demons _love_ semantics.”

“Matsuoka, I believe you took an entire subject on why trying to outsmart a demon is a bad idea.” Azuma scratches the side of Haruka’s neck. “Actually, I know you did. I taught it.”

“Well, and you never said it was impossible,” Rin replies, raising his voice. “Right now, my priority is bringing Haru back; then—… Ow— Haru!”

Haruka retracts his claws, but his paw stays on Rin’s thigh even as the car swerves, eyes glaring up when his boyfriend glances at him. He tries to say _shut up_ and _don’t you dare do anything stupid_ and perhaps a bit of _I’m here you idiot_ , but he can’t do anything other than meow as Rin pushes his paw aside, fingers lingering around it for a second afterwards.

“I don’t mean…” Rin shakes his head. “Truth is, I was thinking about making a deal more in the sense of… blackmail.”

“And here I thought you were the honest one,” Azuma admits after a couple of minutes.

Rin snorts.

“Me being honest didn’t keep Haru human.” Haruka is tempted to scratch Rin’s arm this time, but the car is slowing down. “We’re here.”

 

 

 

According to the reports Rin wasn’t supposed to read, the demon who turned Haruka into a cat is lurking somewhere on the outskirts of a small town, in a residential area still under construction. There are complaints about the demon interfering with the builders’ job, going as far as to cause a nearly finished house to collapse on them; fortunately, the three victims survived.

Only a wall and a couple of pillars stand where the building used to be. The rest is made up of piles of rubble that, under the sphere of light floating before Rin, seem to hide minor demons under bricks and twisted beams.

Haruka walks past it, not even looking in its direction twice; Rin reaches for the knives attached to his belt, their hilt a comforting feeling against his palm.

“This place is too big for only one demon,” Azuma mutters, steps nearly as quiet as the cat’s.

Haruka doesn’t stop, which Rin takes as a confirmation— he may be unable to smell them from a distance the way his boyfriend apparently can now, but Rin can feel their presence like a freezing breath blowing in his nape, making every hair stand on end.

Rin draws out a dagger at the first glimpse of a shadow moving on the first floor of a building he catches; however, Haruka doesn’t head for it. Rin wonders if his boyfriend can identify the specific demon who cursed him by smell alone, but it’s Azuma who walks towards that building without hesitation.

“Clearing up the path in case we need to escape,” he explains; and Haruka does halt now, looks as his mentor distances himself from them. Azuma looks back at the cat, his gaze undecipherable. “You better make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” He points at Rin with his chin. “Life as a cat isn’t that miserable.”

Haruka stays still, watching as Azuma steps in the house; it’s not until Rin crouches down to push him that he starts walking again.

“Why does everyone assume I’m stupid?”

Haruka meows.

“Shut up.”

At that, Haruka meows again.

“I don’t like that tone.”

Haruka keeps meowing at Rin’s every comment; and Rin can’t tell whether he’s supposed to translate them into words, but he can certainly make out his tone, his teasing attitude every time he glances back. Man and cat walk down what, if purged of demons, will become an extremely cheap place for people who want to settle somewhere a bit away from crows.

Until Haruka freezes mid-step, his front paw still in the air; he turns his head left, towards a building that lacks the roof.

“Is it there?”

Haruka sniffs at the air and, after a couple of seconds, heads for where a door should be; Rin follows him in long strides, not wanting to fall behind.

Especially not now.

Rin scrunches up his nose the second he steps inside the building; between its walls, the stench of demon is strong enough to nearly make him cough. He takes over Haruka, but in the light of the floating sphere he conjured he sees nothing but forgotten tools.

This is just the entrance, though.

As Rin heads along the hallway the smell gets stronger; he doesn’t risk glancing back even as he hears Haruka gag, though, for the sickening noise is a way to know he hasn’t been snatched away, that he’s still there as they head into what looks like a future kitchen.

And then, laughter behind him, right in his ear.

Rin spins on his heels, eyes wide as he takes in the shadow hovering over him, so dark it seems to swallow light itself. Only Haruka’s warm weight pressed against his ankle reassures him, the cat hissing even though there is little he can threaten a demon with.

It’s just like Rin remembers it— so tall it has to bend down not to hit the ceiling, with a smile wider than its face and tentacles for eyes. Its flesh seems to be covered in concrete, an armour with obvious weak spots Rin is already locating; it has an odd number of appendages topped off by blades as long as Rin’s arm.

“It’s been a while, hunter.” Its voice sounds like rusty hinges, tentacles branching to see better. “May I guess what brings you to me again?” Rin doesn’t move, and a couple of tentacles lower to where Haruka is trembling.

Rin doesn’t know if it’s fear or disgust. He can’t blame him either way.

“Your lover, right… You wouldn’t have guessed he has a reputation three months ago.” The demon’s smirk manages to grow. “All men fear death, after all. Even the best demon hunters.”

“Then you know why we’re here,” Rin replies.

“I know, and I do not wish to undo my curse.” It must have a tongue, for the noise it makes sounds like clicking it.

Rin narrows his eyes. “Luckily, there are more ways to fix this.”

“And you need me for every single one.” The demon steps back, satisfaction dripping off its voice even as it stops smiling. “Don’t think you know the extent of my power better than me, human.”

Haruka’s tail curls around Rin’s ankle, a gesture meant to be reassuring.

“Then what is your price?”

Rin’s grip on the knife tightens as the demon hovers over him and Haruka again.

“In exchange for returning your lover to his human form permanently?” Tentacles prod the air up and down, pensive, like some sort of otherworldly scan to find a weakness to exploit. “How about I take him with me?”

“Huh?!”

“I will grant your wish.” An appendage stretches down; out of the corner of his eye Rin sees it slide down Haruka’s back, a cruel parody of a caress. “He is good looking for a human, so I will keep him that way… No. Bad kitty.”

The tentacle retracts right before Haruka’s claws sink into it, his back arched in visible hostility.

“Haru isn’t currency,” Rin grunts. “I don’t need you to undo the curse. Your blood, on the other hand…”

“Ah, is that the way you found? Smart kid, very smart,” the demon praises, pleasured. “Some blood… Ah, how much is my blood worth?”

Rin grits his teeth together. Demons aren’t compassionate creatures; in spite of what he told Azuma earlier, there is little he can bargain with. He can’t grant it immunity, not when Mikoshiba is as thirsty for revenge as he still is. And he cannot threaten it, because killing the demon means every chance to bring Haruka back would die with it.

And of course the demon knows.

“Yours.”

Rin raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Your blood in exchange for mine.” Tentacles retract, a gesture Rin presumes the demon equivalent to eyes narrowing. “It’s the fairest deal you have ever been offered, right?”

Rin looks down. Haruka makes no noise, but his wide eyes are pleading— to not accept, to offer something else, _anything_ instead of what the demon is asking for.

And Rin wants to reply that it’s just blood, not a lifetime of slavery in hell; nor is it anything that will keep them apart forever. It’s just some blood, and Rin can afford to lose a bit of the five litres he has.

(It’s not just blood.)

“Fine.” Haruka meows, but Rin doesn’t want to hear him. “Blood for blood.”

The demon snickers. “Humans in love are so predictable.”

It halts, though, and Rin knows the reason— perhaps it’s his increased heartbeat, being too aware of his surroundings or the blood he doesn’t want to lose coursing through his veins, but the steps that can only belong to Azuma echo terribly loud from outside the building.

“Was this your plan?” the demon nearly slurs. Low, threatening. “To make me agree to a deal and then make your friend end me?”

Rin blocks the sharp blades shooting towards him with his dagger— in a swift move he draws out a longer knife with his free hand to shield his face from being cut in half. He steps back to avoid being stabbed, Haruka jumping among the demon’s lowest limbs to try to distract them.

They do fairly well, Rin reasons— taking turns to distract a demon and letting the other kill it is one of their preferred tactics, after all; but as his back meets the wall Rin realises it’s not enough. It wasn’t enough the first time, and it sure as hell isn’t enough with Haruka amounting to a mild annoyance.

A soundless cry leaves Rin’s lips when twin daggers pierce through his side, sight wavering as they draw back; finally reaching the joint between the concrete plates to stab the demon doesn’t come off as a satisfaction as much as it does from necessity. Rin can only slide down the wall as the demon pushes Haruka aside, slamming him against a pillar as if he were a fly.

His boyfriend’s name comes out stained in blood.

“Human blood is so warm…” the demon mutters. It doesn’t seem to feel pain as it grabs Rin’s dagger and pulls it out of its flesh. “Ah… A deal is a deal, right?” Half its tentacles are facing the hole the house has for a window, while the others stare at Rin’s bleeding side.

And Rin is pretty sure it’s not just the poison now in his bloodstream what makes the sphere of light vanish, but as three tentacles suck on the wounds he can only call Haruka again, pray for the black cat to move, to meow, to do something so that Rin knows—…

“Haru,” he whispers, bloodstained and hurt.

Rin can’t blink away the darkness hovering over him when the sickening pressure of the tentacles leaves, but he hears the clinking of something as it falls close to where his hands lie limp.

“See, demons keep our word,” the blackest darkness assures before slipping out of the window.

Hurried steps get closer as all the sharp limbs disappear, but it’s the new light flooding his sight what makes Rin realise he’s not alone yet. He tries to crawl away when hands press against his side, to escape the light piercing through his eyelids, but as he slumps down his hand curls around something so cold shivers rattle his spine.

“This quite fits in _doing something stupid_ ,” Azuma growls.

Rin brings his hand up, looks at the vial full of a bright liquid.

“Got it,” he replies, closing his eyes again; his mouth tastes like iron when he coughs. “Blood for Haru… Haru?”

“We can take care of that later.” Rin shakes his head, cursing the fog settling in his mind. He can’t open his eyes now; even the light Azuma brought dims. He can still hear something shuffling closer, though. “Matsuoka, you’re not dying here,” the man warns.

As if he could do something about it.

But the soft fur that rubs against Rin’s forehead is warm and Rin lets out a bloodied chuckle, stupidly happy that at least one of them is going to make it.

The fear comes shortly afterwards.

(And then, nothing.)

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kiiiinda sorry, but in my defence I kept the angst at bay for around 7k entire words.
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter! Tell me what you think about it ^^


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